Porsche Aims to Enter 15 New Countries, Mainly in Africa, by ’20

By Bloomberg News -
Oct 13, 2013

Porsche AG is looking to enter 15
new countries by the end of the decade, mainly in Africa, as
part of its growth strategy.

“We’re covering new markets where we have not been in yet,”
Bernhard Maier, Porsche’s global sales chief, said in an
interview in Shanghai last week at the opening of its largest
dealership in the world. “We’re aiming to go into an additional
15 countries by the end of the decade.” He said Porsche would
look to north Africa, without specifying which markets.

Expanding into new countries would help Porsche reach its
goal of selling more than 200,000 vehicles a year in 2015 or
2016. Porsche accounted for 1.29 billion euros ($1.75 billion)
of parent Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s first-half operating profit of 5.78
billion euros, making it the third-largest earnings contributor
after Audi and the mass-market VW brand.

The company is also looking for growth through new model
lines, such as the Macan compact sport utility vehicle, which
would be used to “better exploit” all markets, Maier said. The
Macan will be sold from next year.

Sales in China, already the Stuttgart, Germany-based
company’s second-largest market after the U.S., will continue to
expand as it almost doubles its dealership network to around 100
by 2016, from the current 57, Maier said.

China is Porsche’s top buyer of its Cayenne sport utility
vehicle and Panamera sedan and the company wants to intensify
its focus on sports-car sales, said Deesch Papke, Porsche’s
China chief executive.

911 Focus

“What sits at the core is our 911,” he said. “We’re
extremely successful and delighted that our customers have
accepted Cayenne, Panamera, and our sports cars already, but we
would like to institutionalize the sales of 911 stronger.”

Porsche deliveries in China rose 15 percent in the first
nine months of the year. “In China, we see growth of 10 percent
to 15 percent this year, and more in the direction of 15
percent,” Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke said in an
interview on Oct. 8.

That will be slower than the 28 percent gain in sales last
year, according to company figures.

Porsche’s profit growth is likely to resume in 2014 as the
Macan and the 918 Spyder hybrid supercar join its product
lineup, according to Meschke.